VAST is one man and one man only, Jon Crosby. Crosby grew up in Humboldt County, California, and at the age of 13, was profiled as a promising guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine. He was nearly signed to the guitar-based label Shrapnel, but decided to turn it down to hone his songwriting chops. Crosby soon left high school to do home study, and set out to form a band to perform some demos he recorded all by himself, under the name VAST. Although he was able to play shows, the band was a revolving door of members, with Crosby still recording demos all the while.
The music was original, as it encompassed elements of industrial/alternative (Nine Inch Nails) and ambient, with unpredictable samples added. One such demo started to get some heavy airplay on a local station, which led to a fierce major label bidding war.